Overview
Reflective teaching offers us the opportunity to cultivate a teaching practice with a formative, continuous improvement approach to teaching effectiveness, foregrounding flexibility, innovation, and student-centered-ness. It is rooted in the understanding of teaching as a dynamic and evolving practice that benefits from ongoing reflection, inquiry, and a willingness to learn from evidence and experience.
Four Lenses of a Reflective Teaching Practice
In Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, Stephen Brookfield proposes that critical reflection through the following four lenses can help instructors gain new perspectives; clarify their own assumptions and beliefs; promote self-confidence, a growth mindset; a philosophy of continuous improvement and take informed action and provide a model for students to do the same with their own work. (Brookfield, 2017)
- The autobiographical: What went well? What could be improved? What learning outcomes did students achieve? What felt most effective or meaningful for student learning? What would I do differently next time?
- The Students’ Eyes: What did students say? What evidence of student feedback do I have? What did students say supported their learning, and what challenges or barriers hindered it? What did student assessments reveal?
- Our Colleagues Experiences: What do my peers say about what went well for them this semester? What was challenging? If my colleagues are teaching similar courses and/or student populations, what are similarities or differences in our experiences? In our assignments?
- Theoretical Literature: What evidence-based strategies support student learning? What are best practices in my discipline? How does the local and global context shape students' experience in higher education at this moment in time?
Visit our Faculty Resources space in WebCampus to access resources aligned with each lens.
Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Reasons To Cultivate a Reflective Teaching Practice
How do we know our teaching is effective? How can we improve our teaching practice to benefit our students?
Reflecting on our teaching experiences is key to refining our courses and to our overall teaching practice. It can help you:
- Identify strategies and assessments that are working and those that are not
- Improve student belonging and learning
- Provide insight to a challenging semester
- Identify equity gaps among our students
- Clarify assumptions and beliefs about teaching and learning
- Cultivate self-confidence, a growth mindset and a philosophy of continuous improvement
- Take informed action and provide a model for students to do the same with their own work.
Through regular reflection on our practices, documenting changes, tracking progress, and continuously refining our approach, we become more effective educators.
TLC Peer Perspectives - Classroom Observation and Instructional Coaching
Peer Perspectives is the TLC’s classroom observation and instructional coaching initiative designed to support reflective, evidence-based teaching at UNLV. Our program is voluntary, confidential, formative, and non-evaluative and grounded in research demonstrating that reflective, peer-supported teaching improves instructional effectiveness and student learning and success.
Request a Classroom Observation
To request an observation, please complete this form.
Become an Instructional Coach
please reach out to us at tl.commons@unlv.edu. Upcoming instructional coach orientations will be announced on our Events page and in our Weekly Newsletter. You can also review the Credly badge requirements.
The Peer Perspectives Instructional Coach Program prepares faculty to engage in collaborative, evidence-based conversations about teaching that foster reflection, growth, and instructional excellence. Grounded in principles of instructional coaching, reflective practice, learning theory, and formative feedback, the program equips participants to observe teaching through the TLC Classroom Observation Model, identify evidence of effective instructional practices, and facilitate constructive, motivational feedback conversations with colleagues. Through reciprocal coaching experiences, faculty develop skills in observation, consultation, goal setting, and reflective inquiry while contributing to a culture of continuous improvement and shared commitment to student learning. The program emphasizes a non-evaluative, developmental approach to peer feedback that supports professional growth, strengthens teaching practices, and promotes a community of reflective educators.
Resources
Visit our Faculty Resources space in WebCampus to access resources aligned with each reflective teaching lens.